Just Two SEC Teams Will Play 10 Power 5 Opponents In 2023

One tweet tells college football fans everything they need to know about SEC scheduling.

After lots of debate and hype, the SEC refused to switch to a nine-game conference schedule. Instead, the SEC will stick with just eight conference games, eliminate divisions once Oklahoma and Texas join, require a P5 non-conference opponent and schedules will attempt to protect traditional rivalries.

The SEC has taken serious heat for years for refusing to play more P5 opponents, and the conference just doesn't have any interest in changing.

The SEC won't beef up its scheduling.

Well, one tweet from Brett McMurphy is a very embarrassing look for the football powerhouse conference. Just two teams - South Carolina and Florida - will play 10 P5 opponents during the regular season.

Two of fourteen! For comparison, 13 of 14 Big Ten teams will play at least 10 P5 opponents during the regular season.

Even the failing PAC-12 will have 10 of 12 teams play 10 P5 opponents. Yet, the SEC only has the Gamecocks and Gators doing it.

Not Georgia, not Alabama, not LSU, not Auburn and not any other power. Just South Carolina and Florida.

Fans deserve better.

SEC fans and college football fans in general deserve much better than weak non-conference games. Nobody wants to watch a powerhouse program play directional schools or teams nobody cares about.

People get up and get excited for major matchups. That's what injects energy into the souls of fans. LSU is playing Army in October and Georgia State in November. Why? Who is asking to see that?

Alabama is playing Chattanooga in the second to last week of the regular season. Are you kidding me? Does anyone think fans of the Crimson Tide are excited to see a game against Chattanooga late in the season? Auburn plays New Mexico State in the second to last week. Are we seeing a trend?

Meanwhile, the Big Ten is running teams through a buzzsaw of nine conference games and then regular P5 non-conference opponents.

You can sit and argue the SEC is the best conference in America - it definitely has been for years - but you can't argue the scheduling is weak. It's almost like it's designed to be as weak as possible. The excuse, of course, is the regular season is so tough SEC teams deserve breaks. Thank goodness that's not the attitude the guys had in WWII or any other major event. America didn't schedule a cupcake going into the Battle of the Bulge and we didn't land on a smaller moon first before the real deal. We showed up and just got the job done.

That's a spirit the SEC, apparently, doesn't have.

Am I wrong? Am I correct? Sound off in the comments with your thoughts!

Written by
David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick covering a variety of topics with a focus on football and culture. He also hosts of the podcast American Joyride that is accessible on Outkick where he interviews American heroes and outlines their unique stories. Before joining OutKick, Hookstead worked for the Daily Caller for seven years covering similar topics. Hookstead is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.